Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Rate the best of the best receivers/manufactures.

Lets hear it. Seems there are so many manufactures out there these days. What would you rate as the best upper and lower receivers. Great time for you fan boys and top tier snobs to chime in.. I'm thinking BCM would be right up there, but there are better manufactures out there now. What is top tier now? If someone wanted to build a top tier rifle, which direction would you steer them? We all know Colt used to be excellent, but now they are owned by CZ, so we will see what direction they head. Noveske used to be top tier, but after John died, I think they went downhill a bit. Daniel Defense? LWRC? What are your top picks?

I will just say that the best isn't an upper or lower receiver. It's the total product...the quality of the parts used and the proficiency of the assembler.

So you are saying parts is just parts? In regards to which upper or lower you use. Ok

No, I'm saying the upper, lower and the rest of the parts should be judged as a complete package. Like was stated in another thread, having a "name" lower with all of it assembled by who-knows-who in their basement does not make the assembled gun that "name". You know that the top tier makers use quality parts and are assembled correctly.

Only one other than an old Colt i have used are the ones that Aero puts out.

When trying to true them they seem to be trued already.

Their lowers are nice as well,have not tried their enhanced yet.

I know they are not around any more, but by far my favorite recievers are LAR billet. only have two of them but my two most accurate AR's both side charge

Almost. And in most cases. I"ve never worried about brand. I've bedded a few to snug up the fit between upper and lower.

I've really had one issue once. No clue who had an upper on sale, but we bought a couple. Ends up like always the Krieger barrel simply was not quite up to normal standards.

I've yet to have a combo that wasn't under MOA on average. That Krieger one just hovered right at MOA and just under. Others are always under by a bit. Some even better.

That said I've not invested in some kind of supposed top line so who knows, maybe I'm missing the .25 MOA boat here.

Right now though and any time things are short and expensive we just don't buy. I'd bet faulty parts that don't meet the checks get out the door anyway.

Laugh as you will we even put together a couple of Model 1 Sales uppers that were solid MOA shooters.

As far as I'm concerned the most important part is the barrel period. Not even float tubes or triggers matter in regards to pure accuracy issues. Though both matter to field accuracy IE how WELL you can shoot it. Not how well it shoots.


Edit to ad, I've mentioned this before. The vaunted Colt. We bought into that. Got em home. Not accurate. Bad trigger. so toss the barrel, toss the trigger. Granted the upper and lowers were fairly snug. But have since been bedded. Replaced all the above plus a much better built rear sight and the gun has won a lot of matches.

its also the only lower I've ever had that needed its hammer and trigger pin holes swaged. But I bought a set of swaging tools after that just in case.

And how is the colt rebuilt accuracy and performance? Great. In fact its as good as the EA lower and generic upper of who knows who brand upper that I have as an NTIT gun VS an XC and NTT type gun. They both shoot extremely well with a good barrel. One is fugly to some because the upper and lower colors don't match. The colt does match. But I've yet to see matching color receivers by themselves win matches. And I've won more than a few with the EA also...

"As far as I'm concerned the most important part is the barrel period. Not even float tubes or triggers matter in regards to pure accuracy issues. Though both matter to field accuracy IE how WELL you can shoot it. Not how well it shoots."

This!

I used to buy upper receivers from Paul at BCM before he was BCM and usually they were Continental Machine and Tool. Then came the billet uppers and all of a sudden none of the forged uppers were straight and everyone really pushed billet. Man that was a long time ago. Were they better? Doubtful but they sure cost more. I balked and Paul continued to send me straight CMT uppers until CMT started Stag Rifles and production got moved to their own rifles. Then BCM came out and no one answered the phones anymore, that was an almost industry wide move that killed any loyalty I had for most companies.

In my experience, receivers make little difference. It's the barrel that matters most.

I just don't see any differences, or not enough of a difference for it to be an issue

Thanks TWR. Good info. I was looking at the BCM upper and lower I recently bought and don't see where the draw is. I bought it, though, on good faith that BCM is good scheidt... To be honest, I like the finish on my Noveske much better. Also this isn't about accuracy, so much as it is about quality and which manufactures put out the best uppers and lowers. I also hear you about billet uppers. I really like the looks of them and they seem to be more rigid, which we know helps with getting consistent accuracy. I only have 1 and its from a manufacture that no one ever talk about. Its actually on my favorite rifle. That rifle shoots with the best of them for sure. The upper is made by Northtech Defense. At the time I bought the rifle, the uppers were selling for $300.00. Prices have come down on them substantially now though. You can get one with the titanium forward assist for around $250.00:

It also sports a barrel that we don't talk about here either, but we know it does very well in the black rifle challenge. I've been very impressed by the combo, in terms of function, reliability and accuracy:
I've been researching the hell out of barrels that are known for excellent accuracy and none of them are in stock. Seems to be the way of the fn world right now. Using Covid as an excuse to fu ck off I guess... The barrel that I really like, and use, is in stock, so that is probably what I'm going to buy for my BCM. I'm sure it will drive tacks. One thing I like about BCM is the thermocouple fit that montanaman is always talking about. I know from recent experience with bedding my 6x45 barrel extension, that a real tight fit helps with accuracy.

I've heard great things about Aero Precision. I've handled them and they always fit together very well. Their tensioner screw is cool. I like the looks of the M4e1 and M5e1 receivers. I almost bought the M5e1 complete set when I wanted a 6.5 creedmoor, but decided to buy a complete rifle instead. The funny thing about that was when I got home I noticed the barrel and handguard was loose. I'm glad I did not shoot the rifle like that. I contacted the manufacture and the people I bought it from and told them they needed to check the rest of their rifles to make sure the barrel nuts were tight. Mine was only hand tight when I got it. Kind of pizzed me off. Goes back to whether or not a factory built rifle is really worth more than a home build.. A lot of guys here sure think so. I'll leave it at that.. I decided I'd just make my own barrel nut wrench, since that companies was proprietary to their barrel nut and tighten the damn thing myself:

The company wanted me to send the rifle back to them "immediately". Obviously they are under the impression that no one but them should be working on their rifles. I told them that if they would have properly built said rifle and not had their head in their azz, I wouldn't have to work on it.. If the rifle would have shot like chidt or had any other problems, I would have sent it back to them on their dime.. Good thing it shoots pretty good..

Noveske used to anodize then paint the receivers so that’s why they have a more consistent finish. The two lowers I have were the sloppiest fit with any upper I tried though. And the pin holes on one was just off enough that it affected the trigger pull on every trigger I had. Just goes to show that names mean little.

Billet as I was told is beefed up in places that a forged receiver is not because forged is stronger than billet. But I’ve never cared enough to try and confirm it.

I also have a Charles Daly lower that is also anodized and painted. It is the best fitting lower I have, looking at pin holes to the threads on the RE end and also locks up tight on most every upper I’ve had it on.

Bottom line is if it’s right it’s right, names mean little.

That said the later production Colts I’ve had are very well done. Same for the few Aero receivers I’ve had but I won’t buy another Anderson anything.

I've been very lucky. Every receiver I have fits up pretty tight. No slop in the holes, but I have not had anywhere near as many ARs as a lot of you guys have. Only 1 gen 1 Noveske upper and lower set and they match up perfectly with each other. Hell, even my cheap azzed Rogue defense upper and lower fit together very well. The finish on those are very nice as well. Very similar to the Noveske. I actually used that rifle to compare to the rest of the AR's I've bought, since that was the first one I bought and have been pretty happy with it.. Lets not talk about Colt, as the finish on mine is crude. Definitely a fighting mans rifle where finish is of no concern. It has more dimples and blemishes than any other receiver I have owned.. Its a beautiful rifle though and well worth what I paid for it, if that makes any sense..

Is your Colt large pin? The later models where they went back to regular pins and pivot hole have been better from what I’ve seen. Though I do remember seeing a few pics of new 6920’s that were rough.

The pin hole trouble I had was they were drilled in the wrong spot or at an angle causing sear fitment issues. My other one from the same batch is perfect.

It is a pre ban gun, so you would know better than I. I have not messed with the pins or measured them. Its pretty much bone stock except for the grip and adjustable aperture.

The "draw" with BCM uppers is not something you will see; it's something you will have to measure.

There are 2 main QA issue that they get right: a tight fit for standard barrel extensions that almost always requires thermo-fitting & the concentricity of the bore to the threads.

Other than that, there nothing special about BCM, but you can usually get blems for a decent price.

I really like SanTan, Cross Machine Tool (CMT), Vltor MUR, & 2A uppers as well but the cheapest one is Vltor at (at least was before the run-up) around $175, the others are all billet & cost more & are virtually unobtanium right now.

I agree with rost495 that the barrel is more important, probably by a wide margin; proving or disproving small performance differences in uppers is an exercise I have no time for nor interest in worrying about................I buy what I like for a given build & make the barrel fit it tightly by whatever means is necessary for that combination. If the barrel is good, the gun will shoot well enough to satisfy me for my needs.

If the only uppers ever available again were SanTan & CMT, I'd be very happy as long as I could get them.

YMMV

MM

I wouldn't spend any extra $$$ on a "premium" lower.

Thanks mm. I think Vltor made some uppers for Noveske. Back when I was researching Noveske, I saw the modular upper receivers were getting rave reviews. I damn near switched out my N4 with one because my damn rifle only shoots around moa. Its rain or shine consistent, but at the time I thought a more rigid receiver would help with getting smaller groups. One of the reasons I turned it into my designated iron sight rifle. For chits and giggles I may change it out one of these days.

So lets all just have bubba worked over 80% lowers.

Good info from all of you guys. Much appreciated.. In today's market, finding the upper and lower you want can be frustrating. Poor availability and such. Like the guy at the range told me the other day, "if you can find and buy a complete upper and lower set from a well known company for a good deal, snag it". He's a good guy with good info on building AR's. I had to cut my range time short that day, but I think it will be well worth it..